In Chechnya, practice of public apologies affects teenagers

A TV report with apologies of a 16-year-old teenager for criticizing the Chechen authorities provoked indignation of local residents. The purpose of the new report prepared by the "Grozny" TV Channel is to intimidate young people and potential critics of the Ramzan Kadyrov's regime, believe experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The report under the title "All the details about the author of extremist comments in social networks!" was shown in the evening on July 26 and posted on the other day on the YouTube channel of the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Company). According to the authors of the TV report, a 16-year-old student of a college in Grozny left on social networks critical comments about the authorities.

"In real life, a brave 'rights campaigner' looks like this," stated the authors of the TV story. After that, they showed a video with a teenager who said through tears: "I wrote on the Internet about all the Chechen people and all the Chechen authorities. [...] I regret it. I will try not to allow any similar acts on my part anymore. I apologize to the entire Chechen people," said the teenager, whose apologies were translated into Russian by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The "Grozny" TV Channel showed the above report for the Chechen young people, believes Ruslan Kutaev, the chair of the international socio-political movement "Assembly of the Peoples of the Caucasus". "They showed that in all cases, if you comment or like something, they will identify you and find you, and all of you will be punished. In fact, this is a move aimed at intimidating the young people," Ruslan Kutaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The TV story is addressed not only to the young people, but also to all the people of Chechnya, notes Mikhail Roschin, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). "Using the example of the 16-year-old teenager, they (the authorities of Chechnya) showed the young people that they may not criticize the authorities," Mikhail Roschin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mikhail Roschin also criticized the authors of the TV report. "A 16-year-old teenager is still a child, a minor. And when they begin to intimidate a minor and make him apologize, [...] this is an alarming signal and it means that there is a massive intimidation of the population," said the researcher engaged in the oriental studies.

Similar indignation was also expressed by Madina, a woman from Grozny. "It's just a last ditch to show on TV a frightened, sobbing teenager who apologizes to all the people for his comments to the authorities," Madina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 29, 2019 at 01:48 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.